


I'll Catch You

by randomwriter57



Series: Reigisa Week 2014 [5]
Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, I Tried, M/M, Romance, reigisa - Freeform, reigisa week day five, this might have been better for yesterday's prompt but oh well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-19
Updated: 2014-06-19
Packaged: 2018-02-05 08:44:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1812289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomwriter57/pseuds/randomwriter57
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rei and Nagisa go ice skating.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Catch You

**Author's Note:**

> Kind of a sequel to 'The Beauty of It', but can stand alone.  
> Written for Reigisa Week Day Five - Prompt: Winter

Rei knew it was just a figure of speech, but when he arrived at the train station to find Nagisa waiting for him (“Sorry, have you been waiting long?” “Nah, I just got here!”), he couldn’t help but hope his companion actually considered this as a date.

God knows that’s what Rei wanted it to be.

After the cold winter air from outside, the interior of the train was like heaven. All of the passengers were bundled up in coats, scarves, gloves, hats – everybody had prepared for the winter cold they would have to face once more when they reached their stops.

The train ride for Nagisa and Rei was rather uneventful, other than Nagisa’s endless anecdotes and Rei’s theories on anything and everything that he found interesting in their conversation.

Filled with a boisterous energy Nagisa pulled Rei out of the train when it reached their stop, laughing loudly as Rei tried to restrain him from skipping all the way to the rink, which they reached within five minutes of their departure from the train.

Now is perhaps the time to mention that Rei had never been ice skating in his life – he’d never even had rollerblades as a child. All he had to rely on were the theories he’d memorised in anticipation of their date-not-date.

Maybe Nagisa would help him? Surely he’d been ice skating plenty of times before, when he was younger. This train of thought led Rei to imagining Nagisa holding his gloved hands as they stepped onto the ice, holding on to him as he learnt how to balance properly on ice skates. And if Rei fell, Nagisa would laugh and pull him up, and Rei would wrap his arms around him-

Rei snapped himself out of his thoughts, realising they were already at the front desk of the ice rink.

After paying and receiving their shoes (old, battered boots with dulling blades on the bottom, the inside of them wearing away from use), the pair stumbled to the edge of the rink. An intimidating sheet of ice awaited them, laden with other visitors, skating past leisurely, providing an obstacle of sorts. This would be tougher than Rei thought.

Nagisa stepped onto the ice first, using the barriers around the edge to keep himself upright. Rei followed, using the same technique – hands on the barrier, left foot secured on the ice before stepping down fully, allowing his balance to rely on two thin blades and a rickety barrier, and then pulling himself over to face the barrier beside Nagisa. Rei grinned, pleased that he had not fallen. Nagisa wore the same expression, also pleased that neither of them had fallen.

However, it was only when neither of them moved for a few minutes that the silent question was asked: _Now what?_

Because in that moment, Rei also realised that Nagisa was just as clueless and inexperienced as he was.

Now was the time for Rei to use his theories. “I think we’ll need to face that way to skate properly,” Rei pointed to his left, where the ice was on the right of the barrier. “I’ll go first.”

Tentatively, he turned his left foot to face the direction in which he was headed, slowly removing his left arm from the barrier and twisting his body to face the front. He then half-lifted his right foot from the ice, turning it in the same direction.

He waited.

“You did it!” Nagisa said happily from behind him. He then let out an ‘oh’ of surprise before the railing rattled.

Rei stumbled at this, leaning over quickly so both of his arms were leaning on the railing. He then looked back at Nagisa.

The blond had obviously fallen somehow, and was now leaning heavily on the barrier, his legs bent and his knees almost touching the ice. He looked over to Rei, his eyes wide, before the pair of them broke out into a fit of giggles.

“Alright, help me up,” Nagisa said once their amusement had died down.

Rei nodded, using the barrier to manoeuvre himself to face Nagisa. He then shuffled closer to Nagisa, still with both hands on the railings. He removed an arm from the barrier (carefully, mind you – he didn’t want to fall as well) and secured it around Nagisa’s waist (he just hoped Nagisa couldn’t see the redness of his face from that angle). After pulling Nagisa back upright (and accidentally letting his arm linger for slightly too long), they both leaned against the barrier.

“Thanks, Rei-chan,” Nagisa looked over to him and smiled sheepishly. “I should probably be more careful, huh?”

Rei smiled back, not thinking about his words before he said, “Don’t worry, Nagisa-kun. If you fall again, I’ll try to catch you.” A flush crept to his cheeks as he realised what he had said. God, was that obvious enough or what?

Nagisa didn’t seem to notice, giggling at the words. “That’s so cheesy, oh my god.”

Rei turned his head away out of embarrassment, catching a glimpse of the clock as he did so – they had already spent twenty minutes of their hour on the ice. “We should probably start skating soon.”

The two of them spent the next forty minutes stumbling along the ice, holding tightly onto each other (something that put thoughts into Rei’s head that made him blush deeply) as they tried to keep their balance. In the end, they made one slow loop of the rink (with help from the barrier) before their hour was up.

After that they went to the rink’s café, a small place with a warm atmosphere. As they awaited their warm drinks, Nagisa spoke up.

“Thanks for coming with me, Rei-chan – this has been really fun!”

“It has,” the younger boy agreed, “despite us not being able to skate.”

“That was half of the fun!” the blond laughed. “Anyway, next time you’re deciding what we’re doing.”

Rei was confused. He wasn’t talking about next time they went ice skating (because then he wouldn’t have to decide what they were doing), so what was he talking about?

“What do you mean?”

Nagisa rolled his eyes, grinning. “On our next date, silly!”

Rei froze, his eyes widening and his heart speeding up. Wait, so Nagisa had actually considered this as a date? He was sure he was going to die any minute now – he just couldn’t believe it.

Nagisa’s smile disappeared as worry filled his face. “I-I mean, unless you don’t want it to be a date, that’s fine with me-”

Rei took Nagisa’s hands (which had been lying on top of the table) and stared into his eyes. “I would love that.”

Nagisa took a few seconds to process this before lighting up like a beacon. “Really, Rei-chan?! Thank you!” He leaned over the table to hug Rei, who awkwardly raised his arms around Nagisa’s shoulders – hugging over a table is quite hard, you know?

“No, Nagisa-kun, thank _you_.” _For everything,_ he finished in his head, commemorating this day as his and Nagisa’s first date.


End file.
